Building material



Sept. 27, 1955 N. NELSSON 2,718,673

BUILDING MATERIAL Filed July 21 1951 fig :zj INVENTOR.

By 7764 772M United States Patent Office 2,718,573 Patented Sept. 27, 1955 BUILDING MATERIAL Nels Nelsson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to United States Gypsum Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinors Application July 21, 1951, Serial N 0. 237,965

8 Claims. (Cl. 20-5) This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 112,559 entitled Side Wall Construction, and filed August 26, 1949, by the same inventor.

This invention relates to improved building materials and has as an object the provision of improved materials for constructing side Walls of buildings.

it is another object of the invention to provide improved apparatus for supporting strip or sectional wall siding material.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved runner for supporting strip or sectional wall siding material.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved corner shield for use in connection with a side wall construction involving strip or sectional wall siding material.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an improved runner and corner shield which cooperate in a novel and useful manner.

The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing, in which like parts are designated with like reference numerals:

- Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partially broken away, of a side wall construction incorporating various features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view taken in the same plane as Fig. 2 and showing certain portions of the construction in detail;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the runner employed in the wall construction disclosed in Figs. 1-4;

- Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the corner shield em-- ployed in the wall construction disclosed in Figs. 1-4;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the corner shield disclosed in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a corner shield similar to that disclosed in Figs. 6 and 7, but adapted for use in a different application.

The wall construction disclosed in Figs. 14 is one employing strip or sectional wall siding material. Such wall siding material may be, for example, asbestos shingle siding but the invention is not to be considered as limited to such an application as it may be employed with plywood, hardboard, gypsum board, and other forms of strip or sectional siding materials.

Such siding material may be applied over conventional shiplap sheathing. However, where apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention is employed,

suchsiding material may be laid over a soft undersheatlr ing which is not capable of gripping tightly a nail or other fastener, all as explained in greater detail in application Serial No. 112,559, referred to above.

in the drawing, the undersheathing 12 may be seen in Figs. 1 and 4. This undersheathing may be of any suitable form and is shown in Fig. 4 as conventional plasterboard. The undersheathing may be supported by any suitable means, such as the studding 11, depending upon the type of structure to which it is desired to apply the siding.

Asbestos shingle siding 13 is employed in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, as indicated above. Normally such siding is secured to a solid undersheathing, such as shiplap, by nails driven through the upper portion of each shingle, the nails being covered by an overlapping shingle or shingles located immediately thereabove. In accordance with the invention disclosed and claimed in application Serial No. 112,559, of which the present application is a continuation-in-part, strip or sectional wall siding material is supported by an elongated runner which supports each section of siding material over its entire horizontal length and permits securing the supports, namely the runner, to spaced apart studding rather than to the undersheathing, whereby a soft undersheathing such as plasterboard may be employed which will not, of itself, tightly grip fasteners such as nails.

The present invention includes as onefeature thereof a runner 14 which is disclosed but not claimed in application Serial No. 112,559 referred to above. Fasteners such as nails 15 may be employed for holding the vertically extending portion of the runner 14 in position, the nails preferably passing into studding where a soft undersheathing such as the plasterboard 12 is employed.

At the upper edge of the runner there is provided a horizontally extending portion 14a which is adapted to engage the upper edge of one course of siding material 13, as is best illustrated in Fig. 3. Along the lower edge of the "runner 14 there is provided a channel portion 14b which is adapted to receive the lower edge of one course of the siding material 13.

As will be noted best in Figs. 3 and 5 the channel portion 14b of the runner is offset outwardly away from the course of sliding material whose upper edge is engaged by the horizontally extending portion 14a of the runner. As explained in application Serial No. 112,559 this arrangement has the effect of increasing the shadow cast by the channel portion 14b on the lower course of sliding material with which it is associated. This increased shadow effect is considered to improve the appearance of the overall construction and is deemed desirable from that standpoint alone. In addition, the outward offsetting of the channel portion 14b is desirable for mechanical reasons which will subsequently become apparent.

'At the corners of the structure there are provided, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a corner shield 17 for each course of siding material. This member serves to protect the corners of the structure as may best be seen by reference to Fig. 4.

At the bottom end of each shield there is provided a channel portion 18 which is of such dimensions as to receive snugly therein the ends of channel portions 14b of two runners 14. Preferably the two vertical edgesof the corner shield 17 are drawn or otherwise formed, for example by slitting, to provide sharply defined shoulders 19, the portions 20 of the vertical edges thereabove being bent inwardly. The portions 20 serve as seals against the weather since they may be pressed resiliently against the surfacing material 13. Furthermore, the shoulders 19 are located immediately above the upper edge of the outer leg of the runner channel 14]) when the runner 14 lies snugly in the channel 18 of the corner shield. The

19, thereby serve to lock the corner shields against vertical movement with respect to the runners with which they are associated. In practice it is recommended that the runners and the siding material be installed prior to the corner shields. Each shield may then be installed by slipping the upper edge thereof up behind the runners 14 at the top of a course and sliding the rear walls of the channel portion 18 behind the runners at the bottom of that course. As the corner shield is brought up to its proper position the shoulders 19 snap over the outer legs of the channels 14b of the last-mentioned runners and lock the corner shield in place. In this position, the upper end of the corner shield, according to the preferred embodiment, extends upwardly only a short distance behind the upper runners with which it is associated, as indicated in Fig. 2. In any event, the upper end of each corner shield is held against the siding material 13 by the ends of a pair of runners.

The mechanical advantage of the outwardly ofiset runner. channel 14b, previously referred to, will now be apparent. In Fig. 2, it will be seen that the outward oiiset of the runner channel provides space to the rear of the rur'ner channel for both the upper end of one corner shield pith which it is associated and the inner wall of the channel po tion 18 of the other corner shield with which it is associated. These members may lie behind the channel portion of the runner without distorting the runner and without forcing the runner outwardly away from the siding material 13. A further advantage of this arrangement is the ease with which the upper edge of a corner shield may be slid up behind the runners during installation. Still further, the sloping or lower part ofthe main body of the runner facilitates insertion of the lower edges of the siding material into the channel portion 14b, the inner and outer walls of the runner channel serving as a funnel.

The corner shield 17' disclosed in Fig. 8 is intended for application to inside corners and its application to such use will be apparent. The surfaces of the corner shield 17 visible in Fig. 8 are those which face the two walls forming the inside corner which the shield is intended to protect. Channel portions 18' and the shoulders 19 and the inwardly bent vertical edge portions 20' correspond to the correspondingly numbered portions of the corner shield 17, previously described, and their functions are the same. The corner shield 17' is in fact an exact duplicate of the corner shield 17 with the exception that it is bent in the opposite direction along its vertical center line.

The runner described above has dual advantages by virtue of its channel portion being offset outwardly of the siding material to which it may be secured. First, it produces a Striking shadow effect which is believed to have pronounced esthetic value. Second, it provides space thereunder for receiving the upper end of a corner section, where it is desired that said upper end terminate below the upper edge of the course of siding material with which it is associated, and for the rear or inward leg of the channel portion of a corner shield.

The corner shields 17 and 17' described above have the advantage that they support the ends of associated runners and lock the runners against upward movement with respect thereto, while still effecting a seal between the associated siding material. and the edges of the corner shield.

It will be apparent that certain of these advantages accrue from the combined use of the illustrated corner shields and runners and from their novel cooperation with each other. The novel corner shield construction employing the channel portions 18 and 18' are best employed with a runner having an outwardly oifset channel portion, which latter provides a space to the rear thereof for the inner leg of the corner shield channel portion. Also the channel portion of the corner shield and the offset vertical edge thereof are peculiarly adapted to use with a runner such as that described above and illustrated in the drawing.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and it is, therefore, contemplated to cover by the appended claims any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a protective surfacing structure for covering a wall, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material, the combination comprising a plurality of elongated runners for supporting said surfacing material, and a plurality of corner shields for protecting corners of said structure, each of said runners having a vertically extending portion for holding the uppermost portions of one course of said surfacing material against said wall, a horizontally extending portion at the upper edge of said vertically extending portion for engaging the upper edges of said surfacing material in said one course, and a channel portion at the lower edge of said vertically extending portion for receiving and aligning the lower edges of said surfacing material in the course overlapping said one course, said channel portion being ofiset outwardly of said vertical portion and of said one course, each of said corner shields being bent to extend around a corner of said structure and extending vertically substantially the height of one of said courses, the lower end of said corner shield having an upwardly opening channel on its wallfacing surfaces for receiving one end each of two of said runners extending substantially perpendicular to each other, the vertical edges of said corner shields being turned inwardly to form shoulders immediately above the channel portions of runners so received whereby said corner shields and said runners so received'are locked against relative vertical movement.

2. In a protective surfacing structure for covering walls, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material, the combination comprising a plurality of elongated runners for supporting said surfacing material, and a plurality of corner shields for protecting corners of said structure, each of said runners having a vertically extending portion for holding the uppermost portions of one course of said surfacing material against said walls, a horizontally extending-portion at the upper edge of said vertically extending portion for engaging the upper edges of said surfacing material in said one course, and a channel portion at the lower edge of said vertically extending portion for receiving and aligning the lower edges of said surfacing material in the course overlapping said one course, said vertically extending portion being bent to offset said channel portion outwardly of said one course, each of said corner shields being bent to extend around a corner of saidstructure and extending vertically substantially the height of one of said courses, the upper end of said corner shield being adapted to be slid up under the ends of a pair of said runners secured to the two walls forming said corner, the lower end of said corner shield having an upwardly opening channel on its wall-facing surfaces for receiving one end each of another pair of runners secured to said walls below said first-mentioned pair of. runners, the vertical edges of said corner shields being turned inwardly to form shoulders immediately above the channel portions of runners so received whereby said corner shields and said runners so received are locked against relative vertical movement.

3. In a protective surfacing structure for covering a wall, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material, the combination comprising a plurality of elongated runners for supporting said surfacing material, and a plurality of corner shields for protecting corners of said structure,'each of said runners having a vertically extending portion for holding the uppermost portions of one course of said surfacing material against said wall, a horizontally extending portion at the upper edge of said verticaliy extending portion for engaging the upper edges of said surfacing material in said one course, and a channel portion at the lower edge of said vertically extending portion for receiving and aligning the lower edges of said surfacing material in the course overlapping said one course, said vertically extending portion having horizontal bend therein, said vertical portion below said bend sloping downwardly and away from said one course of surfacing material whereby the lower edge of surfacing material placed in said channel is wedged against the outer wall thereof and is maintained in outwardly spaced position with respect to said one course, each of said corner shields being bent to extend around a corner of said structure and extending vertically substantially the height of one of said courses, the lower end of said corner shield having an upwardly opening channel on its wall-facing surfaces for receiving one end each of two of said runners extending substantially perpendicular to each other, at least the vertical edges of said shield being offset inwardly immediately above said channel.

4. A protective surfacing structure for covering a wall, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material, an elongated runner for supporting said surfacing material, said runner having a vertically extending portion for holding the uppermost portions of one course of said surfacing material against said wall, a horizontally extending portion at the upper edge of said vertically extending portion for engaging the upper edges of said surfacing material in said one course, and a channel portion at the lower edge of said vertically extending portion for receiving and aligning the lower edges of said surfacing material in the course overlapping said one course, said vertical portion having a horizontal bend therein, said vertical portion below said bend sloping downwardly and away from said one course of surfacing material whereby the lower edge of surfacing material placed in said channel is wedged against the outer wall thereof and is maintained in outwardly spaced position with respect to said one course.

5. in a protective surfacing structure for covering wall, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material and elongated runners for supporting said surfacing material, such runners having channel portions at their lower edges for receiving the lower edges of said surfacing material a corner shield for protecting corners of said structure, said corner shield being bent to extend around a corner of said structure and extending vertically substantially the height of one of said courses, the lower end of said corner shield having an upwardly opening channel on its wall-facing surfaces for receiving one end each of two of said runners, the vertical edges of said corner shields being turned inwardly to form shoulders immediately above the channel portions of runners so received whereby said corner shields and said runners so received are locked against relative vertical movement.

6. In a protective surfacing structure for covering a wall, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional surfacing material and elongated runners for supporting said surfacing material, such runners having channel portions at their lower edges for receiving the lower edges of said surfacing material a corner shield for protecting corners of said structure, said corner shield being bent to extend around a corner of said structure and extending vertically substantially the height of one of said courses, the lower end of said corner shield having an upwardly opening channel on its wall-facing surfaces for receiving one end each of the channel portions of two of said runners, at least the vertical edges of said shield being offset inwardly immediately above the channel portions of said runners to lock said runners against relative upward movement.

7. A runner for supporting vertically overlapping siding material in courses on a wall structure, said runner being adapted to be secured to such wall structure and comprising a vertically extending portion to hold the uppermost portions of one course of siding material against such wall structure, a horizontally extending portion at the upper edge of said vertically extending portion, said horizontally extending portion being adapted to contact the upper edges of said one course of siding material and thereby to align said runner therewith, and a channel portion adapted to receive and align the lower edges of an overlapping course of siding material, said channel portion being connected to the lower end of said vertical portion, said vertical portion having a horizontal bend therein, said vertical portion below said bend sloping downwardly and away from said one course of siding material whereby the lower edge of siding material placed in said channel is wedged against the outer wall thereof and is maintained in outwardly spaced position with respect to said one course.

8. A protective surfacing structure for the outer surface of a wall having spaced studs, said structure including vertically overlapping courses of sectional sura facing material and a plurality of runners supporting said courses, each of said runners being secured to the studs of such wall and having an intermediate portion holding the uppermost portion of one course against such wall, a horizontal portion connected to the upper edge of said intermediate portion and overlying the upper edge of said course, and a channel portion located below said horizontal portion for receiving and supporting the lower edge of a second course immediately above and overlapping said one course, said vertical portion having a horizontal bend therein, said vertical portion below said bend sloping downwardly and away from said one course of surfacing material whereby the lower edge of surfacing material placed in said channel is wedged against the outer wall thereof and is maintained in outwardly spaced position with respect to said one course.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,501,985 Evans July 22, 1924 2,056,521 Honan Oct. 6, 1936 2,110,258 Blank Mar. 8, 1938 2,467,637 Strohm Apr. 19, 1949 2,535,620 Alvarez, Jr Dec. 26, 1950 2,648,103 Wahlfeld Aug. 11, 1953 

